Overhand throwing mechanics

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Nov 15, 2019
324
43
Do you have video that you wouldn’t mind sharing? I’m assuming that her shoulder has reached its full range of motion in the pic (which the ROM of her shoulder looks very good). The problem I see in the pic is that the elbow is well in front of the shoulder at the max lay back (what I am assuming is max lay back) portion of the throw. The max lay back should have already happened before the elbow crosses or at the latest, even with the shoulder. Her hand/ball location at the start of the sequence could be one reason for that happening.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks so much for the feedback!

 
Apr 30, 2018
349
43
First thing that jumped put at me was the hand is passing inside the elbow at ball release. The hand should be outboard of the elbow as the arm passes the body near near ball release so the forearm is at roughly 120 degrees to the upper arm. If the hand stays inboard of the elbow you end up with a dart/push throw and lose significant power.

Sent from my SM-G975U1 using Tapatalk
 
Apr 20, 2018
4,581
113
SoCal
Thanks so much for the feedback!


I would have her throw sidearm and slowly move up to 3/4 slot. And/or take her to a racquetball court and stand about 12 ft. from the wall and have her throw down about 6 ft in front of her. Ball bounces and she catches it off the wall and do it again and again and again. What lancer said is true. Now you have to figure out how to fix it. Poor throwing mechanics habits are very hard to correct IMO.
 
Feb 16, 2015
933
43
South East
Thanks so much for the feedback!



Chris,

To be honest she has major issues in her overall throwing pattern and it would be extremely difficult for anyone to really help you guys get to where she needs to be communicating through a message board on the internet. I haven’t read any of Austin’s stuff since it came out years ago but I do believe a proven program like his HLT stuff would be the route that you guys need to go, if she truly wants to improve her throwing. Although unless Austin has updated his program over the years, I believe it will only get her so far. From what I remember of his stuff, it was pretty much only about arm action and nothing geared towards the lower body or core. Which your DD also needs help with. To be totally honest If I were you and you guys are really serious about improving. I would find a well respected baseball pitching coach in my area and ask that person if they would be willing to work with her. That may sound crazy but hopefully not........ I wish you guys the best of luck.

Cheers
Dustin


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Apr 30, 2018
349
43
Austin has updated his book over time and is pretty well rounded now. Changing the throwing pattern is hard work. It has taken over a year to get my DD (10) to a decent point and break the push throw habit. She is lower 25% in height and weight and last time I clocked her a couple months ago she was throwing 38mph with a peak of 40. I need to clock her again as we have been working on throwing more often and are also incorporating Jaeger long toss drills for strength building. Most of the work we did ourselves, but we did go to a couple of Austin's clinics when he came through town. We did the water bottle drills several times a week. Make sure you do the water bottle drill slow, like your doing Tai Chi or Yoga. If you go too fast centrifugal force will keep the water in the bottom of the bottle and you won't feel the water switch ends. Then switch it out for a ball and do it again really slow and smooth and slowly speed up until your doing a nice slow throw maybe 10-15' away. Then slowly over weeks/months gradullay increase the distance so you have to add speed. It is a long haul, but it can be done.

Sent from my SM-G975U1 using Tapatalk
 
Nov 15, 2019
324
43
First thing that jumped put at me was the hand is passing inside the elbow at ball release. The hand should be outboard of the elbow as the arm passes the body near near ball release so the forearm is at roughly 120 degrees to the upper arm. If the hand stays inboard of the elbow you end up with a dart/push throw and lose significant power.

Sent from my SM-G975U1 using Tapatalk

Thanks for explaining that! Learning all this is new to me so I appreciate that!
 
Nov 15, 2019
324
43
I would have her throw sidearm and slowly move up to 3/4 slot. And/or take her to a racquetball court and stand about 12 ft. from the wall and have her throw down about 6 ft in front of her. Ball bounces and she catches it off the wall and do it again and again and again. What lancer said is true. Now you have to figure out how to fix it. Poor throwing mechanics habits are very hard to correct IMO.

Thank you for the suggestions! I'm guessing she's been throwing this way for years, so I figured it would take a while to correct.
 
Nov 15, 2019
324
43
Chris,

To be honest she has major issues in her overall throwing pattern and it would be extremely difficult for anyone to really help you guys get to where she needs to be communicating through a message board on the internet. I haven’t read any of Austin’s stuff since it came out years ago but I do believe a proven program like his HLT stuff would be the route that you guys need to go, if she truly wants to improve her throwing. Although unless Austin has updated his program over the years, I believe it will only get her so far. From what I remember of his stuff, it was pretty much only about arm action and nothing geared towards the lower body or core. Which your DD also needs help with. To be totally honest If I were you and you guys are really serious about improving. I would find a well respected baseball pitching coach in my area and ask that person if they would be willing to work with her. That may sound crazy but hopefully not........ I wish you guys the best of luck.

Cheers
Dustin


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Dustin, I really appreciate your honesty! She would like to continue playing for years, so she absolutely is willing to put in the work to avoid the risk of injuring herself with improper mechanics. I can't figure out why after playing for 7 years a coach just brought it up now.... her throw is pretty accurate so maybe that's why?

I'm glad you mentioned the baseball pitching coach, it makes me think we might be headed in the right direction. There is an athletic trainer about 45 minutes from us that specializes in overhand throwing and works with a lot of baseball pitchers so I made an appointment to see him. Thanks for your help!
 
Nov 15, 2019
324
43
This is kind of an odd question, but above Dustin mentioned she needs to use more of her lower half with throwing. She has been working on the same with hitting, needing to get more power out of her hips and legs. She's a strong kid and competes in powerlifting competitions, so the strength is there. Will learning how to get more power out of her lower half for throwing also help her with hitting? Does that make sense?
 
Jan 8, 2019
664
93
This is kind of an odd question, but above Dustin mentioned she needs to use more of her lower half with throwing. She has been working on the same with hitting, needing to get more power out of her hips and legs. She's a strong kid and competes in powerlifting competitions, so the strength is there. Will learning how to get more power out of her lower half for throwing also help her with hitting? Does that make sense?

Absolutely!
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
42,830
Messages
679,478
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top